Preparing the Formal Outline Page - Writing Center at TCC

Writing Center at TCC : Self-help Handouts : How to Format an MLA Research Paper

This is different from the working outline which you used to begin organizing your paper. This is an outline which shows how your paper is actually organized. You may find that this is an excellent way of conducting a final edit of your paper since you can compare it with the original working outline and verify that you have adequate detail. This is a topic outline and uses phrases or words after the thesis statement but no sentences. Unless your instructor gives other instructions use the following format. As you can see, as you indent each level of information, it goes in another 5 spaces. Each level requires that you have 2 levels of detail- 1 must have a 2 although a 3 does not have to have a 4.

Ima Student   Professor I.M. Wise   Class and section numbers   April 24, 1998 - Date submitted or due date.   Outline Thesis Statement:   Yes, you do type the words thesis statement and    underline it.  This is presented as a single sentence and must match    the thesis statement found in the paper's introduction. This is a    statement of your plan for your paper. It will include the research topic and your assertion-- your focus.   I.  Introduction       A.  Supporting Detail              1. Sub-detail                   a. Detail about the sub detail                       (1.)                       (2.)                              (a.)                              (b.)                   b.              2.       B.        II.

Student ii  III. If you go to a second page, you must have your last name in  the          upper right hand corner and use lower case Roman numerals (ii).